A Beautiful Fall

When some think of a neglected arthouse film, the image that comes to mind is a modern, avant-garde affair that looks into the abyss of the human condition and returns with stylishly esoteric profundity–all on a shoe-string budget, backyard sets, and a cast of newly-graduated drama majors. By this logic, though privately financed, minimally distributed, and completely unconventional, “The Fall” barely qualifies as arthouse. It is simply art.

In a 1915 Los Angeles hospital, a young Romanian girl named Alexandria (Catinca Untaru) recovers from a broken arm. Her boredom and curiosity lead her to discover Roy (Lee Pace from Pushing Daisies), a silent movie stuntman crippled during a shoot. Apparently amused by the girl, Roy spins a fantastical story about five eccentric heroes and their quest to bring down an evil governor. Thereafter, the film alternates between the hospital and storyland, with aspects of each entwining and coloring the other.

Unlike other movies that alternate between story lines, such as “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “The Fall” throws itself into the entire concept of the role of imagination in storytelling . Instead of crisp transitions, the story changes and contradicts itself. The storyteller and the listener both influence what we perceive-Roy speaks of an Indian with a wigwam and squaw while Alexandria pictures an Indian with a turban and scimitar.

The characters defy convention as well. Alexandria is a real child, not a Hollywood wunderbrat. She babbles, misunderstands, and possesses equally vexing and endearing wide-eyed sweetness. Roy, meanwhile, is not the typical wizened storyteller. His injuries and personal traumas have left him damaged and despairing beneath a lacquer of easygoing wryness. It is no coincidence that the evil governor in the story doubles as the man who stole his girlfriend in real life. More so, we soon learn that he wants to keep Alexandria enthralled so that she will steal morphine for him. Though Alexandria’s perceptions color the story, Roy’s inner turmoil guides it. For both characters, the story twists between a lighthearted adventure and a painful dirge.

Visually, the film is a bedazzling dream. Where the story can grow thin, the visuals offer wonder after wonder. From traversing the seas on the back of an elephant to epic standoffs atop an Indian palace, the shots that director Tarsem Singh composes are marvels of beauty and artistic brilliance. The visuals and the story, both prone to wandering, ultimately hold each other together. Because it is a fantasy story, the visuals can become as dramatic and epic as they want, and therefore justify the escalating drama of the hero’s quest. The grandeur of the sets can only be matched by the intricate costumes, designed by virtuoso Eiko Ishioko, which provide more insight into the fairytale heroes than any amount of dialogue.

Make no mistake, despite a charming story, “The Fall” revolves around mood and images. Sometimes, the story seems only to provide a means to get to the next magnificent set piece, yet each set piece delivers a flourish of silent emotion.

“The Fall” splashes across the arthouse scene in an eruption of color and drama. It tangos between intimate emotion and explosive epic, childlike innocence and world-weary cynicism, until it reaches a tempo where everything runs together. It does not have much to say about the human condition, but delves into the spectrum of human emotion. “The Fall,” directed by Tarsem Singh, was released on DVD September 9th.